


Semester 1:

by Jacob_Carey, scarlatina_max



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Comedy, F/M, Gen, Original Character(s), POV Alternating
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-04-06 07:33:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4213314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jacob_Carey/pseuds/Jacob_Carey, https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarlatina_max/pseuds/scarlatina_max
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Just a heads up. This work is not on pause. Stay tuned for next chapter!)<br/>Chapter 1: Lost Echoes<br/>"The events that will follow are not brought on by the decisions of the [high] council, but their lack of responsibility. Foresight against the monsters that breached our walls! There is a storm brewing in the world, and their complacency will bring about our undoing and further destruction!"<br/>-Vacuo radical. </p><p>...Twelve years have passed since the disbanding of the white fang, and more notably the graduation of prestigious teams RWBY and JNPR from Beacon. (Well we can write off that part now can't we ^.^')</p><p>While their efforts have slowed the grim's advance. The darkness in Remnant is unrelenting, unending,and most recently...changing.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "Ballorina"

Verse 1:  
"Ballerina"

The moon is but a hollow memory of former glory, yet whose light stands proud and vigil against the dark that is the night. Although it is here in the silent hours of the morning does it transform itself into a spirited dancer. Her movements unbound by her chains that link it to the past as she gracefully leaps across the sky amongst the clouds before the audience of a million stars left in agasp. 

Vibrant spectacles of light reach down through a clinging mist. Soft wails of children and the crackles of fire, stretch out across the streets illuminating the tents below. A few souls linger, eyes forward darting through the sea of shapes that wait outside the crumbling walls that surround the city, not daring to turn their lethargic eyes away from their duties to look up. A small fraction of appreciation was given by the youthful set of blue irises. He strains to overcome the smoke that continues to drift from the embers that line the smoldering hole in the side of his home. The sight above is a warm memory of a younger, happier time. When he looked upon the moon in longing anticipation of the next morning, or in ignorant despair of the events of the following day, which his step-father calmly reassured him wont be the end of the world.

'There in the right moment to pick you back up,' his mind voiced. His eyes roving over the many dimmed photo-holograms, recounting each scene in detail till his gaze lingered situated on the single piece of classic style photography, the ones that used colored ink, which stood above the fireplace. 'Like fathers are wired to be old and wise.' Contrary to the the thought, the man in the photo was a younger version of his father, color still evident in his hair. 

Yet what made this moment unique was that he was standing, embellished with small pieces of medal and a gold lace on his jacket, alongside a noticeably gravid woman that could be believed to be his wife, a young lady dressed with beautiful silk that masked just the right amount of sheen on the surface. A woman that defined 'pretty', pretty enough for someone that he never had the chance to meet.  
'...or maybe they are just born old,' it made his voice chuckle even though his heart began to ache, it was too soon. Turning away back to the moon, the picture frame of the man's face lingering in the corner of his vision, his smiling face was as vivid as the real thing, tinted as it was in that soft glowing moonlight. 

A feminine voice, ethereal in tone, broke him out of his rêveur,'He should have known better then to take you both in when he found you, ' his eyes began to squint out of habit as it happened, just like before, mysterious lights and forces began to pull memories before his eyes, tearing reality away, until only the voice remained. 'You were a curse from the outside,' It spoke now from the trees on all sides, dripping in cold detail mixing in with the panting breath from exhausted lungs. The damp forest that masked movement of shadows, where his head would swivel, his ears in tune with the sharp snapping of twigs, a lack of wind to blowing the trees, and the rising volume of each howl encroaching from behind them. Creating the world around him to be a uniquely quiet, yet loud place to be in. 

'A burden for her.'  
The cold of the early spring morning still lingering the air, sapped little bits of warmth from his chest as he clutched more tightly, trying to stop the beating of his chest against the back of his savior, as she moved briskly through the sea of tall grass that shined in the moonlight. Even in his position above the ground the blades scraped across his skin, but he forgot about the pain long ago, his focus was on his sister. She too was tired, but whatever mysterious reserves of energy she possessed surely began to feel strained, even if the fatigue wasn't shown easily, even as they continued through miles of brush. They moved, himself at the time was unsure where she was going, but given the amount of split changes in the path it occurred to him, neither did she. 

He wanted to voice his concern, that was until he heard her breath fracture apart as they cleared a new bush. First it was the howls heard in the distance, but now he could pick out the low growls that echoed around them. These were not animals, their black forms were like the ones in the village, but even in the dark these monsters had paws painted in bright, bone-chilling, crimson. His mind easily identified the substance that also dripped from their teeth, the name of it he repeatedly buried in his mind, only for images to spring up again and again. Blood...he knew blood, it was the dark stuff that came out when things hurt real bad, this was different though. It wasn't red like roses, but a brighter that flowed out of the villagers that the beasts grabbed.

'-a nuisance, '  
The girl sat him down on his feet behind her raising the staff in her hands, soon they would be upon them, and the unknown fear, that sense of mortality, squeezing his chest returned. Unlike before, this patch of woods offered nowhere to run a fact that sent his heart beating in his ears, each growl held a mouth full of teeth, endless numbers of red eyes promised gore. Falling drops of blood in their jaws screamed of the cries of their victims, they were growing louder...the fangs, they were getting longer. The blood now flowed out from their eyes like faucets, draining his world of color, he was going to drown in it. There was no escaping it, no escape.

A firm hand touched his shoulder, it seemed to cast aside the twisted versions of the horrors before him, but the palm kept pressed down softly, pushing him on his knees to the ground, the grass blocking off the sight of the wolf-like creatures as the first began to charge at them. His hands worked as a makeshift muffler, as they managed only to block out the ambient sound, only to be punctuated by the violence he had hoped to ignore. 

'and useless.'  
It went on like for what felt like a long time, the color of the grass and dirt before him changing, becoming more distinct caused by, what he guessed, the sun beginning to peak over the horizon. The sounds around him grew static in intensity, a constant presence beating against his ears. Grunts, growls, roars mixing together like the perverse scene of a group of rabbits, yet it didn't occur to him very fast, but at one point he finally noticed a pattern rising from the symphony, where each subsequent roar or series of roars would get closer then be abruptly silenced followed, occasionally followed by a grunt or whine.

It came as a shock when the sound stopped. Only when he unclasping his ears, confirming the soft motion of leaves did he find the courage to look up, the wolf beasts were still lingering under the surrounding trees, each form lite up nicely by the appearance of the sun. Yet the red eyes were no longer focused on him or his sister, who stood nearby atop an upturned rock. It was a whole different sight then before, the vast ares of trampled down grass, the few patches of freestanding blades swaying in the breeze to his eye, had distinct fine cuts similar to those carved in the ground, the closest was an leg length away. In all the area around him was a eerie show of how some had gotten so close.

Unwanted info that did him no good, so his eyes shifted focus, choosing to be more attentive of the direction of each monster's gaze pointed, which would lead to the source. He tried to put his mind at ease by making the scene appear as a puzzle of sorts. Separating out the numerous heads, claws, and legs that that were in the forest was the first step. Coming to focus that only a dozen or so could be seen with all limbs intact. He smiled, it had worked, his fears were lessening as he moved onto the next step. Finding his mark where all the sets of eyes conversed as one, remembering what his father told him, that all roads lead to Vale.

Frustration filled the air that followed in deciphering the two dozen pairs of eyes and the incompetence of the sources in front of him, the heads of the beasts would move occasionally causing him to restart.

He had enough, ready to chuck the rock in his hand, to order the creatures to remain still, the rock flew true and struck the hollow tree trunk, uninfested by dark moss that clung its fallen comrades, the resulting sharp *bwok* did cause the creature's heads to stiffen,but the intentions were unnecessary as his mind had only repeated it's final verdict on one given direction. It was his third consecutive attempt ending the same place, so out of spite in trying again, he looked closer.

Despite the benefit of the doubt he still only saw nothing. Nothing but, a dark patch, a result of the thick canopy of leaves where not even the moving branches were clearly visible. He blinked rapidly when the wooded limbs had more resemblance to arms, gaze shifted right trying to banish what he believed to have seen as product of imagination, but it was there, on the right side of the dense dark, beyond the trunks of trees was a similar clearing of tall grasses. The shape of an arm in his mind returned with gusto, along with a reevaluation. 

He was wrong, he admitted it, the motions he saw in the dark were not the movements of branches, nor was this a patch of dark forest. This evil, this enigma had a hint of color...the darkest touch of violets clung to the wisps of air around it like a living fog. His earlier dis-missions seemed, wrong wasn't the right word, no...no they were utterly wrong.

For the four, nearly five, short years he had been on this world, on this patch of dirt. This forest, its animals he grew to know to name by heart, what his eyes saw had no right to exist there in the woods, nor a place anywhere on remnant, it was living blasphemy. 

As if hearing his conclusion the figure's gaze looked at him, and in an instant its venomous reply sunk it's fangs into him. His vision became blurry, breathing growing steadily weaker as the shade's gaze turned his world gray and the world faded. 

During the period of what his sister told him was but mere moments the rest the beasts had shuffled back into the forest, sounds of twigs moving further away heralded their departure. It was a brief moment of silence as new sounds, roared with unmatched intensity, boomed overhead in successive waves.

A grand behemoth, not of darkness and bone but a vast construct of metals, stood...err...floated proudly in the distance. Casting a shadow across the distant mountains as it basked in all the glorious colors of the morning sun. Hues of yellows, oranges, and the occasional red, an awe inspiring scene that could compare to the bloom of springtime flora, all reflecting off the many angles that gleamed off its surface. 

Soft speckles of white light gracefully moved around the canvas of metal, like bees looking for nectar nestled inside the many new vibrant flowers that only bloomed only at dawn. 

It left him feeling struck, that he didn't notice a few of the blips growing in size from their approach. This time the roar of fire was more brief as the light shining from the engines growing more dim, but within moments the area around them became packed with white metal men, each face covered by a black visor, armored pieces remaining silent even as they moved around them.

His sister's smiling face was an added bonus as his eyes were locked in fascination at the metal men, their feet working in unison to surround the patch of grass with white boxes pointed at the forest beyond, the only oddity would be the rather boring people dressed in long white coats that walking among them, but they seemed to be more interested in their little holograms.

He didn't even notice till a tap on his should brought his attention back to reality. Where a ship had landed in front of them and a new voice called out to them, a man surrounded by the metal men, who would become their stepfather stepped down from one of the still impressively sized metal aircraft that came from above, he couldn't recall the beginnings of the conversation he had with his sister, as his focus fixed upon the metal soldiers moving at the corners of his vision. He did remember looking at one point during the discussion, but the mans face wore different shades of melancholy, it was a odd sight seeing a old soldier, much less his step-father being sad. It was unheard of for him, but that image was swept aside by new face the man showed. A calm warm smile that was crystal clear in detail and grace, closely followed by him removing his big coat which he placed on our shoulders ensuring it wrapped around both of us.

It was an act given onto us that truly ushered in the warmth that brushed off the cold, as his steady hands led us back onto his ship,fear finally being cast aside. 'He was impressed by your sister's abilities, she could have started a new life, one that was fulfilling and her own.'  
It spoke out, will twisting the reality around him and the mascaraed of light and sound began to erode, once more the moon in the night sky, was once more the center of his gaze, only to finally disappear in a large series of clouds. 

The smile on his lips quickly fading, '-why did you choose to remain? ' fresh sorrow arose, filling the void left behind from the soft respite. Once more he was surrounded by dark, empty walls of his home. The accusation it spook lingering long after the voice had quieted, his gaze rising upon the only source of light that shined from above. Where the moon continued to dance, passing through the clouds and stars of the night sky.

 

\-----------------------Verse 1 End--------------------------

READ IF YOU WANT TO BE HEARD  
(Note from Author: Thank you for reading the first verse of my RWBY story. This piece of fiction is a work of patience, deep thought, and total randomness. This is a trail chapter so to speak. Verse 2 is halfway finished but will take time, as such let your voice be heard if you wish for me to continue.)


	2. Photos

Chapter 1: Lost Echoes  
A RWBY Fanfiction  
Verse 2  
"Photos"

'Why did I choose to remain?'  
Such a simple question to ask, yet because it was simple it sent irritation like hot water through his body. It began to circle around his head, nagging and chipping away at his patience as he searched for a response. This stupid ordeal was only adding fresh fuel to the inferno that spread like a weed sinking its tendrils to his core, sapping away everything. Worse still the answer that did decide to raise its ugly head was unacceptable so he kept pushing it back down even if could be right. An answer that shouldn't be right... that he didn't have a good reason why, and it was that lack of reasoning that made it maddening.

Out of spite he turned away from the moon, believing its presence could prompt another barrage of thoughts of his sister. The events he couldn’t predict would happen, everything just ached to think about, and it’s thanks to the migraine he found an excuse to put off thinking about it, at least for a time. Diminished anger did nothing to lessen the task he set out to accomplish during his morning, but it did give him renewed vigor. Tossing away broken china in place for intact pieces, fixing up decorative display cases along with the photos enclosed inside them. It was all an effort towards restoring what he had hoped would be but just a fraction of what was once his family's home. The main living area where his hands were slaving away in the rubble, it’s a place once lit up with pride by his stepparents and to the envy of the many guests which accompanied it. A room that saw many holidays, nights of laughter, now lay in crippled state of silence. The portraits of his family that once hung across the room now featured holes and gashes fresh from the claws and fangs of the nightmares that carved hopelessly deep into the drywall. Damage control like that was beyond a teenager's skill and patience.

It was to his knowledge that restoring smaller, seemingly minor details to a job can do wonders to lessen the predicted cost made by a team of craftsman to repair the house. Small things were easy, and could turn out to be rewarding. Picking up another one of the photo-holograms off the floor, the image flickering in the blue light as the device fought to preserve the memory of the family holiday etched into its core. The faces only brought strain to his face, teeth grinding together sighting the distressful green sweater he wore that day. The pleasant scent of pine tree mixing in the air with the warm cinnamon treats sitting on the table. Despite the aroma his mind couldn't defuse the presence of a prickling that spread everywhere on his body.

"I think I'm gonna die," he warned to the older girl who stood like a statue beside him, "Can I take it off now?" His right hand pulling, moving in a circle around his neck to areas where the heat was building up and it gave a small moment of relief from the hand stitching in the collar only stopped when a hand softly gripped his arm.

"Don't move it! You'll only mess it up again," a few chuckles came from a few of the adults as his sister bent slightly down in front of him, fingers fiddling with the red bow-tie around his neck.  
"You know the drill...pictures first, then desert." his eyes gave silent pleas of mercy as the boring Faunus with antlers came back with what might as well been another roll of film. Once more his sister stood at his side but this time holding his hand as she gave it a soft squeeze.  
"And I promise I found you something special this year."

"Alright...” he trusted her to be good on her promise, and was actually pretty exciting. In moments his patience was reborn and his smile returned to his face in earnest. The Faunus man took notice of that and smiled back as he stood in front of the group waving his hand for everyone to be still once more that evening. 

*Dong*, as if feeling an unnatural warmth in the world, his focus was snapped back to the reality glancing over to disturbance that sat in the corner of the room. The grandfather clock which once may have been an antique featured a large gash in the upper workings of the mechanical bits. With a crack the grandfather clock's pieces shuttered for a moment, before locking up distilling the room in quiet.

A grand act featuring the details of the hidden struggles of mechanical pieces was both brief along with being one of the rudest means of telling one the time, at this hour nobody needs a clock to tell them it was late. 

'They invented the alarm clock for a reason you know...' 

His mind continued the debate on questionable junk around the room while placing the family photo-hologram back on its proper resting place inside the thick sliding doors, the glass door groaned with age, wheels probably long since rusted over turn in their sockets to slide back into the cranny with a thump, locking it in place once more. 

Antique works of crafted furniture strung around the room were nice enough to own, as looks were each piece's best feature, but damn if they weren't bothersome to use properly as their maker intended. Tiresome hours spend by hand to get every detail right, a fact that normally would have raised a red flag in his mind, but fresh anger stemmed from deep lying irritation with that accursed bed-stand in his room, one with a history of creaking on its legs from a slight bit of weight. Respect towards craftsman tossed to wind just like that wooden monstrosity, and it was heralded by the glorious sound of pieces shattering, bolts flying from its frame as it hit the sidewalk. He couldn’t lie to himself…that was by far too satisfying to just do once ohohoho-no he would look around some more to be rid of some useless junk.

Soft rapping at the door frame was an unwelcome diversion from search and further destruction of family objects, the looming shadow finally giving him the inkling to look in the visitor's direction. The soldiers helmet and visor hiding most of his features but did nothing to mask the shadow of facial hair, slouched posture, and scuffed metal armor he wore loosely still managing to look somewhat professional. The soldier deposited at yellow envelope on the coffee table closest to the door, and gave a departing nod. 

The envelope was plopped down on the kitchen counter, his mouth opened to call out to his father who would be just no leaving for work, before the pause stopped him. Once more he turned to the envelope before taking the brown package in his hand. 'To whom it may concern.'

'Well that’s entirely specific for the recipient end. Hats off to you anonymous writer.' 

The seal was torn away in satisfaction as his hand roughly grasped the letter inside pulling it out. He looked over the words but they did not warrant any mean for a time, the choice of font. His cognition making each sentence a blur inside his mind, almost painful to read over. 

☆ æ☆☆ Notice Of Instruction: ☆☆æ ☆  
Hello young sir or miss, it has come to the attention of the state that you are now without a legal guardian. In light of this we cannot allow a minor to live in a home without protection. Therefore you are to take these official documents and report to one of the cities orphanages for proc□□□□□□.

*Cra-crunch*  
The hand clutching the documents, papers, envelope and all were deposited inside the wall of the living room, yielding stucco and cardboard crumbling from the righteous anger that fueled his fist as it buried deep inside. The blasphemous papers now securely lost forever either in the rubble or beneath the particles of the plaster, but non-matter how far he pushed the information was printed boldly in his mind. The insensitivity of every sentence, the heartless computer automated message emphasized by the bland choice of font made his skin tremble.

Withdrawing his hand he began to take slow steps away from the freshly made hole in the room. It took a while for the adrenaline to go down but eventually feeling slowly returned to the appendage, nerves signaling the subtle injuries underneath the grey grit. At one time he would have like to think that maybe just one of them was lost in the ruins, trapped under rubble somewhere but the grim don't just leave the wounded alone. His memories, their torment, no matter how bleak, gave him that comfort and it was as much of a condolence he expect to receive. 

The faces in the photo-holograms seemed to stare at him. Lifelike entities whom sat by watching his every move their frozen lips offering warmth during days of celebration, yet flicker dimly in the dark revealing a hidden malice. Apart from the rest, one photograph shined evenly and was at the center of the collection. Hung atop it was a beautiful gemstone necklace that glimmered with indigo light, just the way it did in the picture. His sister standing behind him tieing her gift for the birthday boy around his neck. 

It was a leftover from their real parents, it was traditionally meant to be given by the chief but destiny...if that was the right word, had other plans. For the extended time she held onto it, she fashioned the stone into a necklace. A necklace that had been collecting dust since the first few month at the academy. 

It had been a focal point for other remarks by peers and classmates, one that gave him the most ridicule along with his fighting, movement, and his 'land roaming' parent's given name. 'Land roaming...anybody who had a brain knew they were calling me a gypsy...not that they ever stopped it.'

The third day was when his sister comforted him in his room, after he asked their step dad to go to the mayor's office and change his name, his 'girl' name.

'We all wanted to change how were were brought up by our parents, that seems to be universal, but I was there when they gave you your name,' her words came out in the softest tones his sister spoke with that day. His restless mind showing off its talent, not even bothering to look into a hologram to paint her welcoming smile she wore that day, full and it spoke of warmth. A rough gemstone amidst the sad, voiceless smirk she wore on most times before heading off to work. 'I think you might understand what grandpa taught me, one day you'll understand how important it is being set up different in the eyes seen by others. Value is not measured by how how our 'burdens' give us weight, but how we shape them to be an anchor in our turbulent lives, so that will stay our ground. When you finally understand this, you'll know your name is what you should value most in your life.'

The roaring sea of emotions steadily rose to overwhelm him but like before he kept his head out of the waves, eyes up unwilling to surrender to the harsh, bitter, crass world around him.

"Care to explain what you’re doing with those magazines at this hour?," a tone of calm bemusement washed over him yet was still strong enough that the gem clutched tightly in his fingers slipped out of his grasp for just a moment. Shakily he caught it and turned back towards the stairs.

'Oh shit shes back?!' 

"What? N-no Heather I'm not looking at-," hope and panic stitched to each were torn away by the cheeky grin etched on his friend's face as she stood leaning against the wall, arms crossed. The moment of brief joy was paid back in full, his face ablaze with a show of confusion, pain, and sorrow. With a weak groan he turned away from her and buried his face into one of the couch cushions, "Go away, Luna."

"Smooth~ recovery there Arora," her short victory beaming with every word, before moving closer, the sound of her feet stopping right next to him as he felt a comforting hand begin to rub his back. "Sorry," her voice had banished the chiding humor it wore before, now it was soft, yet still held confidence, "did they find the building she was inside of? It takes them a while to clear the fire and rubble."

He didn't wish to respond right away, the wishful thought of Heather simply trapped away somewhere merited more comfort then he thought it should have, "No," he spoke, attempting to rub off the feeling of shame onto the fabric beneath him, “No-I, I don't think that’s likely," pulling his head out of the couch and into her shoulder.

The scolding he wished to receive from his selfish thought was for not, instead she held a warm smile, eyes softly lowered, continuing to simply rub his back and worries away. 

The comforting was soothing, had just the right amount of contact without feeling smothered, and it feel nice, but it didn’t feel...it’s hard to explain with words. It’s similar to the first time he visited the art portion of the summer festivals, how there are hidden elements of artwork that gives each piece meaning, which he never could understand, only appreciate. In this case that feeling that element was missing...and like before it made him feel awkward, confused, and his sister wasn't around to explain it.

He would always get tokens of affection from his sister, hugs, a kiss on the forehead, but they were usually during the morning or evening before they went to bed. 'What was it?' This should've been easy, since the only times he got hugged like this when he was sad, 'what’s so different?’ 

"-Arora you there?" It took a moment to process Luna’s voice as coming from over his ears, and suddenly he remembered the tapping sensation on his shoulder.

"Huh?" It was one of those odd moments where he returned from his thoughts to find his eyes where set on something he would never in his right mind consider looking at. Namely...a chest of a girl who was his best friend, at once fresh blood rushed to fill his head(s).

"Uh sorry," apology said he reeled back quickly. Thoughts trying to put as much distance between him and the soft pillows that-,'Shut up, stop it.'

He didn't get far though, practically yanked back to her side. Despite letting go her hand didn’t detach itself from his wrist. Her eyes, which took note of the white coating of fine grain particles. Her features shifted from shock, to humor, then to worry as she noticed the coloring of skin underneath, clear evidence that this was an injury and not a bad ending to ...ahem...Arora time.

"What happened to your hand?" He didn’t really want to tell her about the letter. Those details were not worthy of happy discussion, and probably won’t be right now or ever. Luna didn't have to pass any of her classes in her elementary education, only having to spare one look to find the suspected hole in the wall to find the answer her question. His silence wasn’t unnoticed to the inquisitor, her eyebrows rose up like a wise judge, seeing through any act he could hope to pull to hide a lie.

"I-uh busted it," it was an honest answer, but his mind was dead set on poisoning every comment at any chance it got, and he didn't dare let this fault slip his current company.

"Common lets go over to the couch... careless as ever," it wasn’t so much of a groan since it was followed by a chuckle as he sat. She went to the restroom to retrieve the first aid setting the contents on her lap. "She said that about you before we met."

"Heather said I was careless?" he was not sure if it was presence of leather that sparked the irritation in his reply, or that Luna was using this as another excuse to playing doctor. With two exaggerated snaps she donned the vinyl gloves brings back...ugh...buried memories which were enough to make him turn his gaze away. At least this time she was focused only his one hand.

"Oh she said a lot of things about you," as she spoke her grip tightened on his wrist to stop his movements as she cleaned and whipped every crevice, around fingernails, and the occasional drops of blood. Nothing was safe or sacred to the grime and plaster under the wrath of Luna and her dreaded wet washcloth, 'Woe to yee peasants the mistress of the night will kill you a-owwch.' 

A slight rumbling of the ground which made Luna's hand press harder then intended. It wasn't anything too painful but he did spare a glance at her to be more careful.

The act was to offset the stinging sensations where she would wipe over strip or bump of blood. Unintentionally grinding the sand into the wound where it was as welcome like salt. 

Pulling, twisting, and prodding following in quick succession, a underlying notion that she was treating him like a rag-doll did little to loosen his tongue. Sometimes it was just repeated random series of twisting, others it felt as if she was actually trying to detach his arm, to examine her work closer of course. A quick eye inspection of her work noted it as... satisfactory, the pace was bit quick, bitter, but...effective as now his hand could felt clean. Although now with the sensors on his skin relayed with fresh intensity of the presence of bruising, pain no longer diluted by the surrounding presence of dust. Yet she was already at work on those colored areas of flesh, wrapping small colored pieces of rubber over every possible inch. 

A soft smacking of hands signaled her conclusion of a job well done. "Me and her first started talking years back, but the only chance we got was when she was on break or getting off work," and just like that she resumed her work...welp it must of been too much to ask that she would be done. "She is usually in a vulgar mood if you tried chatting any other time. Can't blame her really, I wouldn't have wanted a job in an atmosphere around that line of work at seventeen." 

Her opening presented itself as opportunity as his own grin sparked on his face, a chance to get away from this dreary talk of his sister, not that he let her catch a glimpse his smile of it since that would run his fun, "it's...her and I Luna not me and her." For the first time since they started she stopped moving his arm, which made him smile, 'Ahh finally a fitting rebuttal for her endless teasing.'

"Oh…really?" Her response was...perplexed? That’s unheard of since she was more lingual with words, and this grammar was lower education stuff. It only registered in the back of his mind the lifting of the thick rubber band as his concerns were elsewhere. Leaving the discolored areas of his hand free of its confines which finally clicked in his head, to what little knowledge of medical stuff, the skin was still tender, so this was too early to perform. He hardly realized the increased pulling sensation around his palm which constricted from the added strain. 

*Snap* Like a hammer, or more comparable to the sensations of a belly flop where all his nerves were funneled onto his hand. A belly flop that broke the facade of the water to reveal lava, burning through his skin, past his muscle till it met bone. There the feeling lingered, a throbbing sensation that anchored his tissue to choose between the ebbing pain poisoning every pulse of his heart and the cold promising silence of death.

Unfortunately for his stricken mind his tissue was made of tougher stuff. Nerves continuing their purpose of sending detailed messages that the flood of anguish was receding. Such a tenacity to survive whispering a hidden message they gave that came into focus.

'Pain is love, pain is life.'

"Remember who's trying to help you buddy boy," flicking his head with the offending fingers used for violence.

"Right...comments to myself," he hung his head and looked away not giving her the satisfaction of seeing his defeat.

*Brrrrrvvooom* Once more the walls rumbled in an extended tempo, Luna thankfully knew better then to keep working as the large painting on the wall toppled over onto the ground. 

"Whats going on out there?" 

"They're just increasing security," she spoke, continuing her work after the shaking stopped. 'Security?' he though, that could hardly be the case. He became very aware over the years training at the academy of what caused shock wave patterns but the craft of that scale were stationed in reserve at Atlas...for reasons everybody knew.

"Nothing to complain about except the time it takes to get around town. With the checkpoints and knights stationed everywhere. I had to use that new roof access in your room to get in."

"Roof access...what-oh," the giant hole in the ceiling of his room, roof access, oh hardy har-har Luna. 

"...anyway she helped each of us get acquainted. Since talking about you was what made her open up.”

"How you needed a more direct softer approach...preferably with snick-i-croons," the sound of crinkled aluminum set his nerves on alert for the source, a quick once over the room and he saw it. The plastic dangled in Luna’s fingers as it waved back in forth.

Her smile would make a cashmere cat proud as she flung the package where his hand snapped out grasping the object he currently desired most…not exactly what he imagined Heather meant by it. Ah he can care afterwards…snack time!

He moved away happily, chewing away his attention focused on his tongue moving over the glorious coarse textures of the chocolate filament on top deep crumbling grains of salt. All of it eroded away like an ocean to reach the soft vanilla-caramel filling and the shards of its nutty core. 

"Uh-huh it seems that hasn't changed one bit it seems, and who could forget your favorite color~."

Like a firecracker a frown appeared as his face scrunched up as dropping the candy in his hand. The salty chocolate treat crackled as it hit the floor followed shortly by her spurts of laughter. Attention for his snack was lost, turning he looked on in horror as she was tossing around one of the more damaged holograms that littered the room. 

"Hey careful with that!" he warned as his hand darting out to take the memory out her grasp. Inspecting for any new damage, he was rewarded with loose gears snapping back into place in the device and the image became more pristine in detail. “Don’t think I haven’t forgotten about my old music tapes.”

“Ha-hehe you mean that assortment of colored cartridges you showed me that night?” Looking at her object of abuse he figured why this photo grabbed her attention, it was the night they first met and had a sleepover. The former was only after some quick pleading to his step-father who was okay with it...in exchange they would let him take a picture of the children wearing their pajamas. 

“You can’t fix crease marks on signatures Luna, a signature from Weiss Schnee!” No respect…seriously this was supposed to be a commemorative photo of two new friends, but now its tasteful humor for Luna. All because of the color of footed pajamas he wore in the picture, "and it’s not my favorite color any more so you can stop laughing about it Luna."

He swore this girl’s childish nature knew no bounds, without notice her hands had, with the skill of a seasoned criminal's, jacked his possession off his person before moving away, "aww but it’s still funny."

the trouble was that her reflexes made up for her shorter arm length, and she was smaller so she could just duck down, but thankful she didn't run otherwise he'd never get it back.

Finally he was able to grasp it out of her hands and moved until he felt he was safely...fifteen paces away and atop of the kitchen table, the distance needed so she couldn't just jump and swipe it out of his hands again. High ground obtained he turned and pointed out the color inside, "Look at its not pink it’s like a...a lightish red."

"Guess what...they already have a color for lightish red. You know what its called? Pink," that girl's bemused glare was teeming with fake teeth, and the tone of her answer was as blunt as a hammer strike. 

With the photo safely high enough to be out of her reach he turned back, "I hate you sometimes." Her smirk face turned away and moved behind the numerous walls. The modern theme of the house masking the under toned chuckles as her footsteps grew distant down the hallway. Its in the silence that his attention was brought back to the memory of his sister sitting between the younger pair. Her bright smile the biggest of the trio of friends. The only one of the three not wearing footed pajamas for reasons he never bothered to ask, instead she opted for a tank top with shorts combo.

"Always moving to stand up and outside the present norm..." it is her tenacity made the smile appear. She always was willing to put in that extra hour at work, or help any charity set up along the streets, but Luna was right on some thing at least. She was becoming more edgy as the years went by. When their father fell ill and the influx of other Gypsys and nomads grew more common. 

He believed these problems could be a good thing since she would have more opportunities to help the growing needs of charities, not just when the appeared. It didn't even phase him when this began to have a negative effect on her. 

He eyes didn't wander this time until with a flicker of blue light the wiring in the device cut out and the hologram died. The image of his sister was plunged back into memory replaced by the dark shadows of the room. 

Taking the device in his hand...he didn't recognize the importance it shared and its connection it made to him. Glancing around the dim room for what he required that moment, he found it inside the coffee table that laid in the middle of the main living area. Dropping back onto the floor he moved over and pulled the amethyst colored bolt of silk out it's display case. The spawn of madness that was his step-father, four colored bolts of silk secured inside a giant glass tabletop contain five sections, each fabric the color of each member of the family. Unraveling the long roll carefully he began re-wrapping it up with the device at the center. The slim piece of metal and plastic fitting safely at the center.

A particularly loud clatter of objects from the distant hallway. Luna...well its good that nothing distinct like ceramics or glassware fell it seemed, those are horrid to pick up, and worse to explain. "Arora your place was great when other people were still here," voice becoming more distinct every moment, along with the of her footsteps as she drew closer. "I think it's a bad atmosphere for someone like you to live in alone."

'Crap...how? How did she come across the letter?' This coming lecture wasn't needed. His father and sister could still be out there even making there way back to him, he had to be here when they showed up. He wanted to convince her of his position but he knew he wouldn't be able to convince her...which made him massage his temples trying to sooth the headache away. 

"Well your gonna need these then," with a soft clang of metal on glass he looked up and saw two colorful green and pink duffel bags from the closet sitting atop the coffee table. Luna strolled back into the room dropping off her own burlap sack slug down from her shoulder. "I can help you pack if were wanting to make it on time."

"What are you talking about?" Luna neither responded or stopped moving, instead heading over to her small bag and began undoing the knot fastened on top. "You know as well as I do that the flights out of Val-Larua are still days away."

"Oh it turns out they bumped up the flight times. There is a flight coming in from Atlas in a few hours," ignoring common decency rules when it comes to conversations, namely looking at your partner.

"Ah here they are," her voice stitched with glee as she pulled out two purple lament pieces of paper. "And yours truly won a pair of tickets from today's raffle." 

 

\-----------------------END VERSE 2--------------------------


	3. Opened Doors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Author's Note...HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me!"  
> Also just to clarify. "Jeff" isn't helping me write the story but does give me editor input which I find note able enough to include his name.

Chapter 1: Lost Echoes  
A RWBY Fanfiction

Verse 3  
"Opened Doors"

Eyes inspecting every centimeter for faults, the sparse presence of torn or ripped sections was a welcome change from the norm. A hopeful smile grew as the last leg section came to a close. 'Darn' her frustration sparked again as she spotted the culprit. A dark patch of fabric on the back lower calf. This one still sporting a small thornish splinter, no doubt shrapnel ejected by the far wall's interior when it was blasted apart. The wood piece has long gone cold and black but it's influence still remained. Sparse patches of petrified fibers now crumbling to ash with an inspecting touch. With a sigh the pair was tossed into the corner. Made home among its discarded brethren, "That's the last of the pants."

The other figure shifting on the bed groaned as his hands ploped onto his thighs, "Three pairs of jeans," raising one of the intact pieces from the small pile. His disappointment both bitter and evident as he looked over what had become a truly finite resource, "that's not even enough for the vacations at mistral resort." 

"Cheer up buttercup, its not a total loss." Luna mentioned as she fished up a black soot pair of pants off the bed. "Ripped and destroyed is still in fashion and hey you might be the start of a new trend...burned."

Her saleswoman demeanor was rewarding as his face showed the beginnings of a grin, "Don't you mean smoked?"

"Exactly what I'm thinking," she encouraging the smile by nudging his shoulder as she moved before his gaze raising her hands in emphasis, "New! Smoke and fire treated pants," her voice raised shifting to something that belonged to the mobile product advertisements downtown. "The finest blue shades treated with the hottest of flames to catch that grey sheen. Uhh...to portray the user holding only the darkest of desires."

Her target audience just sat there looking on at the her aspiring entrepreneur tactics. Mouth returned to being flat as saucer, "Well don't start the fund raiser all at once," dismissal wasn't the sort of response she was expecting from a profitable plan. Profit that's going to be need if they were wanting to skip over to the next kingdom.

Luna pulled open her bag fishing out the aged billfold sitting on top. With a snap of metal, the leather let slip the plastic device as it fell onto the soft carpet. The billfold was old, its clasps inside had long already been ruined but she resisted ripping them out as it might be deeply attached to the inner lining which held the important stuff. 

Important, desired, and mostly all useless colorful pieces of paper and plastic sat inside. Luna had learned to recognize ordinary junk from the real deal off of people who visited the city. Yet the only colors her fingers picked over that mattered right now were light green and off white. 

'Lin' is what they are going to need and could be scrounged up from the stuffy diplomats inside the ship. 'Gil' wasn't in retrospect, as plentiful as she would have liked. Even harder to come by as in recent days with food and water an everyday demand for her, and everyone else in the city. This left a relative 'handful' of bills for her fingers to flip through, and sure enough it didn't come as a surprise after sorting through piece by piece that most of the currency she had was useless and were stuffed back into the bag with a heavy sigh. 'One hundred and fourteen...one hundred and fourteen.' The small figure in her head didn't change as she repeatedly flicked away at the plastic. Hoping somehow a few bills had been stuck together and would split into two. Moments passed as she slumped back onto her bag she looked over her funds, each of the six slips of plastic clutched in her hand barely catching any light from the sky. 

"Something wrong?" his voice crawled over on the bed.

"No just," her situation had quickly begun to sap away her steam, "Checking...our funds."

The fresh implications of such a plan were still being mulled over in her head. Apart from reacquiring the tickets it was required by law for children under the age of eighteen to be flying with an adult. It might be possible to bribe any troubling officials to 'overlook' their age but what money would be leftover?

"We'll need more then what I have." she spoke quietly watching the colors dance off the plastic as she moved her hand to and fro in his view.

"Father always kept a set amount in his office that I used for snacks and stuff." 

The thought made her pop a grin as she stood back up, "Used only in emergencies...right?" 

"Hey, you checked most of my clothes already." He looked at her as the shirt pile from before was gone and hes moving onto his sweaters, "They're ruined...also I'll be using it as the name intended now."

"Well, I can always grab you a few smaller pairs of denim from Heather's wardrobe while I'm at it," irritation, that's the word her mind conjured up as she watched amethysts face twitch from the cheery tone in her voice as it met his ears. Now she regretted her words instantly as amethyst stiffened from the impact, voiding all progress she had of lessening him up the past hour.

"It still doesn't feel right for you to rummage through Heather's stuff."

"Just clothing and we are in need of a little charity...relax," she reassured him with a wave. It made her stop and regard him for a moment when her action met little regard as the boy turned back to his work. The movement of his hands slowly sped up as he took note of her gaze. "Hey no rush, we still have plenty of time."

He didn't look at her, only focusing on what was in front of him, "I just hoping we to get out of here, sooner the better, that's all."

"That's all?" the tone of the conversation had turned almost violent as she stared at him for a moment before returning to packing the last of the socks. His edginess that came with the smallest mention of his sister hadn't rubbed off since she arrived, the thought revisited her mind over and over again.

Only after the back of her mind shouted at her did she notice the long pause hanging in the room. The only thing to be heard in it was the boy's movements and the soft pats of t-shirts landing atop one another. 

"Arora," she asked picking up her bag moving around the bed towards the door. Curiosity won out and with a passing glance, tried to see if her question caught the boy's attention who only continued to focus on the mountain of clothes that was quickly disappearing inside the purple bag. 

"Well..." she announced, moving over and setting the second duffel bag beside her as she reached the doorway. "I'll be grabbing only a few pairs of underwear, maybe a t-shirt or two. Do you know if Heather kept some of her older pairs in her wardrobe?"

Again she waited for a response, this time the sounds of the house competed with the sounds in room. Everything faded out by the intensified shifting of body and clothes as amethyst continued to stare into his work and away from her. 

Her feet moved closer and the wasn't responding at all, no hand gestures, raised shoulders, let alone anything close to an acknowledgment. Concern took control as she slowly sat down on the creaking bed. Apprehension overriding safety she reached out a hand that slowly drifted towards the boys shoulder. Arora for his part, only continued to fume disregard to everything around him... treating his clothes similar to rocks by the river, practically began throwing them atop the neatly organized piles inside.

He was showed signs that sent alarms in her head but she pressed on until her hand softly gripped shoulder. Heat like fire and tense as a rock resonating from of the muscles underneath as he went taut, "Arora tell me is something wrong-"

"No!" His anger flared, slamming his fists onto the clothing laden mattress. His action causing the wooden frame to give a sharp creak. "I-I mean, its nothing...just...I'll tell you later," the roar of his voice simmering down to a whisper within a few moments, "alright?"

"Okay..." the chill of his sudden outburst was still fresh, but then came a warm reassurance that he would inform her later of his issue and that was enough for her right there as she walked. The hand hand on his shoulder giving it a light passing shake. 

Moving slowly of the door way she watched his closely. Even though his previous speed had rid most of the clothing pile he was immobile. His fingers were lightly fumbling with the stitching of the sweater as he stared at the only surviving pair of underwear on the bed. 

"Want me to pick out some of the underwear...she might still have some you gave her a while back." Her idea did cause his head to tilt to the side. She imagined the idea clicking inside his head as he thought it over, since it wouldn't be the first time she saw him wearing them.

Well...'wearing' them. 

"Nothing...too girlish," the voice was soft but she heard it as she gave a thumbs up as she was passing out the door-frame and the wall blocked her view to see if he received her gesture.

"I'll be right back," she called out as she moved across the spanning hallway to the painted baby blue oak door. Turning the handle, the door opened, revealing Heather's room. Here it was neutral ground for her and Arora, so she strode in without question until she reached the forbidden ground that happened to be her destination. Opening the double hinged wardrobe, the sight causing her eyes to widen in wonder. 

Stitched fabrics of every pastel group and color, numerous hues and textures, and a whole other wardrobe full of fresh options spread out for her to browse. Picking through the wonderful mess, something caught her eye: an unworn t-shirt; a pearl of a dress tucked away in the back. The voice called out to her: "Me, yes, me! Pick me!" It was grabbed and placed in a pile on the bed. Time was limited, and there was so many things to choose from...this is what she was missing in her life. 

The availability of choices...everybody should have that! At first, the presence of such an inventory of clothing was staggering, but as she mentally sorted what was personal to Arora and the things Heather no longer wore sent her feet into a frenzy.

For the times they dressed together during her nights over, this treasure trove was a source of fun for the two kids. Only in recent years did Luna find she was a smidge jealous of Heather's early growth spurt. As a friend Heather stuck to her philosophy that she only had to wait a while. It was true that she slowly began to grow but what bugged her was the shopping experience. Heather's size gained her access to the adult's selection of stylish outfits, tops and underwear where her size was wholly inadequate. Since the orphanages she hopped around in only provided credit at the 'family' oriented brand of stores that, whether influenced by curse or a twisted city planning, sat directly beside the clothing store Heather and most teenagers shopped at. 

A knock on the door brought focus and renewed haste in obtaining the original items and purpose of her search. "Luna are you done...in there?" his voice was cut after the underwear drawer fell on the ground. Its contents like a wounded animal, drawing in the vultures of her eyes as they swooped in for the glorious spoils. "Hey, what's going on in there?" Shock came quickly when the doorknob shook and the door cracked open.

"OUT!" she roared, clutching the heap of underwear shielding her body against the curious eyes from seeing her still clothed form. As the door slammed shut she was drawn to a shiny fabric in the corner of the drawer.

"Sorry, I should've known better, you might of been hurt...just sorry." His voice drowned in the revelry in her heart from her find. It was the seamless silk bikini that Luna adored ever since Heather wore it during the three friends trip to the beach. It may have been odd to Luna why Heather insisted on staying on a concealed portion away from the crowds. The question rose as she focused on the keen details when they changed later that day on the stylish and continued lack of tan lines Heather sported, but then again they did pack SPF seventy gel that day. The thought popped into her head that, 'maybe the bikini wasn't waterproof ', it was two cup sizes out of her reach, but she still loved the style, and her growing age was enough comfort for her to take it.

As she stood, a distinct thump was heard as something hit the floor beneath her. What she found was an odd sight: a magnetic name tag with the word 'Candy' written in colorful pink dust crystals. It was odd, since Heather's last name was Crystal, and nobody gave her a middle name. 

Flipping the folding doors closed, the vast sea of colored fabrics were once more shut away with barely any force inside the wardrobes. Despite what the boy might think if he found out, she didn't throw the clothes back inside; instead she folded each piece to make it seem she was never there. It took a little more time, sure, but the growing pacing of footsteps outside the door was becoming a bit rude. "...I thought you only wanted a few pairs of underwear?" 

Ungrateful for her hard work, she annoyingly asked "What time is it?" as she placed socks into her sack, first and foremost to prevent any possible damage to the clothing from whats already inside.

"Time? Luna, It's five twenty two!" That was enough to cause panic, and in an instant, the order of clothing ceased to matter. Whites and colors, nope, it doesn't matter as long as the containers inside didn't spill. With a flash of motion, the door was opened, the sack was over her shoulder as she hurried down the hallway with amethyst irritated but in tow, "I thought you were keeping track of time."

"Sorry, but I had to make sure they all fit." It was a lie, but it didn't matter if he found out, since this was in fact a 'moral and just cause'. Heather wouldn't mind; in fact, she would be happy such clothes, no matter what size, would be going to homeless shelters, freezing children, or into Luna's wardrobe. Either way it was in a better place for everyone.

"I thought YOU were keeping track of the time!" It wasn't her fault that her room didn't have a clock that ran without electricity.

His face showed only irritation that she could relate goes to how backwards their city was. Almost everyone relied on small handheld devices to feed them directions, work appointments, young upstart musicians and endless drama entertainment. "Yeah...but as much as it pains me I learned once more not to rush a girl."

He may not be appreciative, given the intensity of locking the house's door, but that was a big lesson she hoped to reinforce into his noggin. Time is a given...and it might as well be the least appreciated app out there, "That doesn't hide my frustration in seeing our flight becoming less of a reality and more a product of chance." 

This rushed pacing they were moving did bring up a few questions. One that which was a universal cardinal sin for everybody her age: "Do you have everything?"

"I have triple checked, and so far... duffel bags, both grey and light red, are all accounted for." The sass that he spoke with happened to be quite refreshing for her as he hefted the baggage onto both shoulders. The change made her smile. It might be that he just needed some alone time.

The notion of before made her blink, but she didn't dare open to speak but the scenario played out in her head, 'It seems that the roles were reversed this time amethyst...except I was only trying on your sister's underwear.' She didn't need to imagine his face as much as recall it from before, in all it's red and horrified glory. 'but I think there was a lack of naughty material on the floor before me. What do you think...close enough?' 

Temptation of pure sin, a joke of liquid gold, it fought for life in her throat, but nevertheless, it was at the wrong place at the wrong time, so with scrunched lips, she fought down the impulse she would save for later.

"Good, good, well I hope you don't mind, but we are cutting time by using your new roof access. We wanna avoid the guards in the streets obsessed over their paperwork." The very notion of repeating the procedure made her stomach sink lower as each detail came up from recent memory.

Name, family members, home addresses, and destinations were all 'important' pieces of information for the city's security. Once was enough, since due to her humanoid circumstances, there was an additional head to toe search for 'suspicious' or stolen merchandise. Some surely had their fun doing so, especially younger security officers who were nothing if not firm in their searches but taboos against the nudity of younger citizens. They let her keep her dignity and it offered easy loopholes, but its the guards back at orphanages who were the real menace against privacy and would-be thievery.

The open lit room before them thankfully didn't hold any more needed work. Effort to sort through the half burning wreck that was Arora dresser. Which now lay half torn open, and holes in multiple sections like everything else. The plastic wheels had melted into metal sliding frames made the ordeal and returning headache something she shouldn't have had to part in, 'I hope he's not picked up the habit of wearing the same clothes from yesterday, oh heavenly hosts above let it just be ordinary laziness.'

'Otherwise I'm burning his sheets till he learns proper hygiene,' she promised to herself as the boy gave a firm toss of his luggage onto the roof. 

As they reached the top the fading stars above came into view, slowly beginning to fade by the appearance of the sun's light crawling though the fires and smoke still clouding the horizon where the airship bays stood. The lone aircraft anchored, probably their ride, featured specks of steam from what probably is the engines warming up.

Between them and their destination was a urban no-mans-land of broken buildings and littered streets filled with fresh activity, the numbers of armed soldiers doubling from the night's shift and those set to replace them. She began to recollect the alleyways as she moved towards the edge, those still unblocked that could quicken their journey.

"Rooftops...rooftops that's it. Luna wait." his hand grabbing her shoulder as she shifted her focus to where his hand was pointing. To the less fortunate building housing another family next door. "We can just move across the rooftops and avoid all the patrols on the ground." 

While the idea did merit some pause, well not just from the idea, but from hearing his suggestion, half of her brain-cells committed suicide. Just one by one...till the decision fell on the next cell who took up the responsibility in answering his idea."Arora...do i even need to tell you why that won't work?"

"Houses have collapsed into heaps of rubble, just from rescuers taking a step inside." 

"What about the derbies that fell onto the streets hmm? That the material found on roofs. Its so weak that kids play on it since it crumbles to ashes when you step on it," her fingers counted every detail stacked against his logic. Till she had a open palm which she grasped the sack on her shoulder, giving it a light tug.

"We aren't exactly traveling light...does this still sound like an ideal morning jog?" 

That boy finally showed signs of registering any reason. His joyous smile finally faltering, that is until he perked up once more. The storm that blows through this boy's mind is something she would never comprehend, "Then we'll avoid the houses that have smoke coming out of them."

"Its not like you can tell if a house has been hit or not."

His face lit up, "Easy...the tents and shacks in the streets are people who lost their home right?" He dismissed with a smile, "just move across places where there are no tents. No tents...no damaged homes."

That logic...made her pause, it was recklessly disconcerting thought it did make the idea of roof travel more appealing. Luna's mind turned over her thoughts, after all the use of the rooftops did occur to her, but it was risky with the addition of guards keeping watch. "What about buis-," it was no sooner that she spoke did she catch of glimpse of Amethyst finishing his warm up sprint.

The next moment he was flying through the air, "common race you there," he called out as he landed in another sprint ready to cross over to the next house, yet hes still managing to note care that house was spewing smoke.

This only severed to make her grumble as she too lined up her own run, a race could help her forget about the nauseous plan, not that it mattered really... she had already won, "Alright...lets go then."

Unlike him she only really needed three feet. Not much of a warm up, but its all she needed to use her talents something that the boy surely forgot to account when he challenged her. Jumps like this made the blue strands of her tail wanna curl up as she gathered strength and like that...she was across the gap. 

The boy had managed to obtain a half block gain over her but that wouldn't be an issue as her legs kicked into gear. Making her way up to him was an issue of time, but that wasn't the thing on her mind right now. 

The issue of damaged homes was ever present that is true but this area was area was already well managed its the middle of the city that got hit most. Which was were they were going to cross...and they were not the only ones actively scanning the next set of rooftops.

Dim blue lights glowed inside high story windows, atop rooftops, skylines, and hovering ships from all directions. Neon blue rays lines moved across the skyline scanning repeatedly for threats. Yet her eyes lingered on them whenever she got the chance still looking for her prime culprit.

"Arora hold up."

In that moment after she spoke did they finally appear to her...little white figures, some positioned still, some moving in pairs, positioned at every corner, probably to have multiple guns facing each given direction. At least one of those rifles was no doubt roaming somewhere in their direction. 

Luna had no interest at being shot, granted the first would intentionally miss, probably breaking apart the tiling next to them but that would be their only warning. She knew after they reload next dozen or so rapid a volley would be heralding a hailstorm of taser and stun rounds.

They...were not pleasant. Nor was the treatment that followed, "If we get caught we will probably spend the next four hours in questioning," beatings with electric batons not withheld. 

"Well...they cant watch everywhere right," he commented but she wasn't listening.

Luna only kept her eyes moving scanning every possible avenue for a weakness, a small gap between buildings, cover that offered blind-spots in their fields of view. 

Its not that Luna was ignoring him but she had more insight in regards to using that philosophy and it didn't end well once. Just another grueling treatment by police followed by a worse lash of words by the security at the orphanages.

"We should either choose the housing near Samuel high rise district or the Zeno business rise district,"

"Zeno is closer," he spoke sounding neither breathless nor solemn. More...alive would be a better description. 

"Yes it is, I'm just not looking to play needle in the haystack with the layout of that dreary place." 

"Zeno is closer...so if we move quickly we can pass them before they post more look outs up there," already he was about to be on the move. 

"Wait," she called him pulling his chain and like a puppy he groaned as he reeled back...perhaps this morning jog would do this boy some good but in this situation she was the leader right now. 'Sorry Skippy you gotta wait your turn to lead'. 

Looking over her nightly playground ahead of her it came apparent that some areas offered a better chance then others...not favorable at all due to the company that's tagging along, but under the right circumstances, could work. The only real options she had to go on were areas that had a lack of guards...and with experienced subversion out of the way, it seems to be her only viable avenue of opportunity.

Similar if not the same issues repeated themselves across every section of street they passed as the two of them crept quietly around the heavily security central heart of the city. Every crossing meant waiting as the creep atop the kilometer of quiet streets simple layouts turning to endless stretches of economic business buildings. At times she wanted to question their path as it seemed to move over previous areas as similar features repeated themselves outside of the soldiers moving atop the buildings their layouts varied in contrast.

She stopped, finally spotted the fruits of their seeking eyes. A gap in the security infrastructure that sat atop low lying areas, to low to spot grim over the city walls or spot people moving atop the taller nearby buildings. It stood out among them as a mom and pop grocery store with only two guards atop it , and only one of them was in a tower. It made the brief journey seem to be worth it. 

As the boy groaned but pull back from dashing ahead to the next set of streets. As he came up behind her Luna turned to face him, "This is important so pay attention okay?"  
Once the boy gave her command a confirming nod did she return her gaze to the layout of the building. The darkened lights of the sign hanging above the front of the door should cover their approach, and offered a place to scale up. As for the relatively flat area of concrete rooftop it would be tricky but not impossible given the ventilation equipment used by the store along with with old water and gas pipes running flat atop the floor did shoot up over in some places. It offered a nice challenge, one that she was up for. "This is going to be a little tricky but you'll be fine. Just do as I do alright?" The man in the tower was the real threat, standing still moving only so often as to look over the railing to check on the guard on the lower area. "When the guards are facing a different direction move quickly and get behind something, then peak out."

The guard down below moved from point a to point b like patrol. From the two times she caught the one up top checking him on a set thirty second interval the lower guard's position wasn't consistent, something that made her smile and mention, "They aren't following a strict pattern so when your ready don't hesitate, but if in your gut you don't think you can make it...don't go yet."

"Repeat the first two steps till you reach me but don't peek out to much or you could be seen."

"When I move you need to do your own scan okay?" she looked back one last time as she readied herself on the railing...the guard up top had begun to shift and she waiting for him to shift feet and look somewhere else.

"And...go." Her feet moved before the words left her mouth, picked up wind and dust as her body moved out from the corner of the guards view. As she reached the right point close to the vent she twisted her body mid stride. Fighting off the light strain being directed on her knees as she curled down low till finally she was behind it and her backward momentum stopped. 

Peering out a second time to confirm her suspicions that she was no longer visible from guard in the tower. Only the man finishing his furthest turn on the lower area was left. His head dialing in each direction and over every rooftop visible to him in the city. He was green no doubt about it and might have been well trained but Luna was skilled at this hour. 

She had already detailed his slackened pace and shoulders. If Arora knew anything about timing he should have no issues getting by him if he waited a few minutes until the same opportunity presented itself. Not many can appreciate the complexity it requires to get past guards on a night like tonight. Which is why it came as a shock that no more then a few seconds later amethyst had made it and was right beside her.

'The second guard wanted to talk, maybe the guy took a sip of coffee, was he taking a phone call, not that she heard him talking, did it sound like he was talking?' These explanations for why and how came and went like midday traffic. Arora for his help only looked mildly tired. No panting or even the slightest glimmer of sweat breathing or...anything. He only smiled under her bewildered gaze, till he said it, "What?"

'What? Did he-HE DID-how could-wasn't he-but I didn't,' while all hell was brought loose on her mind order stepped forward with the needed question, "How?"

"How...what?" he looked dumber then usual right then as he clearly pondered over her question. Her mind racing as his choice of words came bristling with needles embedding themselves into her sinking gut. She had spoken the details to his face, he was turned away sure but he was the only one there he had to have been listening right? Right?

Her heart beating faster now, "how did you not get spotted by the guard in the tower?" 

"Oh I just slipped behind those two large ventilation shafts near the right side like you did." 

"Your sure?" She moved closer eyes checking every inch of his face she needed to push that this can't be a joke. 

His voice also had reeled back under her gaze as she moved much closer, "yeah I swear he didn't see me." 

A sigh of needed relief, calm, and cool refreshing wind passed over her senses as she stepped out of his personal space. All forms of panic leaving her mind, beginning to fade away as she took in the information she needed.

"That's good news," the idea of getting caught now seemed too cruel and far-fetched even in this state of the world, "I think we should keep the chat to a minimum till we reach the docks," breathing in deep she felt the tension finally leave, "I think the guards have listening devices set up to monitor sounds."

"Though I should mention," his voice spoke up again, "... I think the one on the left saw me." The smirk on his face faded and paled visibly under the red lights that turned on around them.  
*Eeeii-ert*  
*Eeeii-ert*  
*Eeeii-ert*  
A series of crackles went off around the slow tandem of the alarm. Light fixtures around the city flicked off one by one as searchlights atop aircraft and buildings began to slowly swerve toward their direction. "Yes. Yes he did..."

\-------------------------End Verse 3-------------------------


	4. Last one out...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monty Day! 
> 
> *Goes and cries in a corner*

Semester 1: "Lost Echoes"

  
A RWBY Fanfiction

  
Verse 4 Part 1

  
"Last one out..."

  
'Tonight has been interesting,' Luna thought to herself, 'not because it has been following a trend worthy of an cinematic film. Depressed teenagers and folding clothes for a trip, not many would kill to see that featured at the box office.' Irony was the only feeling flowing through her right now. Her keen choice of wording could fit very well in a different situation like the one they were in now. Plus from the harsh glare of flashlights aimed at the corner of roof they stood, killing was something this crowd was certainly capable of doing.

  
"Alright, step out from the corner, hands on your head," the brute voice of the military woman was both commanding and slow. The pauses between her words was cold as the dark black rooftop became slightly tinted in blue, "and no sudden movements."

  
Luna's head started to ache, the situation had changed so rapidly making the carefully laid strings in her mind knot up and burn. Closing her eyes offered some comfort at least, the sight of the searchlights and the approach of an electrical weapon for disabling foes made sorting details a little better.

  
The short ears atop her head however, were swiveling on their on. Set in auto-tune to listen to the chatter over the radio, nearby a woman's voice was giving a description of amethyst, offering details, numbers, mostly boring shit that wouldn't pass through to the customs branch of the city's law enforcement. The officer's at their destination won't know they are now wanted suspects, but that will only remain true if they didn't get any names. Luna's gut trembled letting out a low breath of air while her mind made itself up, that these guards might need to be silenced, just as a precaution. For what she has put a stake tonight she wasn't about to let feelings against killing stop her from leaving. "Tonight sure has gotten interesting," Luna whispered to the light shuffling of feet next to her.

  
"What do we do?" His voice didn't match the one she depicted. It was calm, lightly concerned but not frightened it seems by the prospect of being arrested, or worse jailed. That is good...one needs to be optimistic in those situations.

  
"I'll think of something," she meant each word that could offer promise of assurance to the boy. No matter what happens in the following moments she wasn't going back. She had already made up her mind on that tonight, "Go...but don't let them get too close."

  
She had kept her eyes closed, and the boy was silent, a few moments later she assumed he was listening because he stepped out from the corner, footsteps tapping lightly against the hard concrete of the roof.

  
She listened in for about ten seconds, enough to reassuring the nagging part of her brain that he wasn't shot, calling for help, or something else. Seriously, who ever created man and faun from dust didn't have much time to consider thought process before switching over from using red and black crayons making grim. 'Why did they get to exist?'

  
Her mind, however wasn't about to go down a different path so easily and focused once more on the possibilities of this morning being behind bars. For Amethyst things would most likely be wordy and cold, on the part of his sister having to come get him, yet it would be civilized compared to what would await her. 'All thanks to the colorful history of red Faunus have with humanity. The White Fang really raised the bar the last few decades.'

  
'The White Fang.' Luna's fists clenched red as they drew blood. 'How they brought out harsher laws and restrictions for working Faunus, prevented rights and-...Ughh.' Her head had begun to throb from the mix of thoughts and the thumb of the sirens. hurting as the only part inside it that had yet to blow from the stress was raising its white flag. 'Break time...' Luna started slowly at first, closing her eyes, blackening the world as her ears slow begun shutting out all noises. The stress of the world as she tried to real back from reached her limit. She needed to focus and blowing up wouldn't get her out of this situation, and she had another person to look out for as well.

  
The only way she saw right now is to relax, if only to ease the tension that has been winding up her muscles. Her arms were shaking mildly as she took deep breaths and slowly practiced unclenching her fists. She needed to calm down, any direction given to her would surely end up getting her shot or worse electrocuted. So with a clearing of her thoughts she let out a deep sigh as she reached for her little friend.

  
Trembling fingers hooked around the little wires that she attached to her hip. As her right hand gave the coiled insides three unspoken pulls, as she no longer needed to check for the correct length sense its second nature for her. With a flip of the little dial on the side of the device the soft chime was welcomed by her unsteady nerves as the tension in her arms left. Giving her the prehensile dexterity needed to clasp the little claw on the end of the wire as she brought it to the white collar, in place the little cyan light of the speaker was like a pearl in contrast to the sickly blue t-shirt.

  
With a snap of the clasp the sounds of tiny nodes and circuits sprung to new life as the light surrounding the small speaker flared up with cyan light.

  
"Hello again, Luna!"

  
The childish sprite spoke from the speakers with a near lifelike tone. Which was the sale deciding aspect of the automated, and user voice directed, sound system of the crimson series style of miniature portable music. Its moments like this that Luna needed music, apart from it being an utter bane to adults everywhere, and truly it was almost a divine blessing to have such volume packed inside a small device. No...it was that it provided a troubled mind with a comfort zone to process things, and a needed distraction from the sonic pounding haze of alarms around her.

  
"Hello Scratch. Sorry if you cant hear me, I'm trying to be quiet," over the alarms and talking of the soldiers nearby her own voice sounded quieter then the cool breeze of wind that passing through city from its journey down from the northern seas.

  
"Its okay!" The happy voice spoke without a care of being heard by anybody else, "What would you like to listen to?"

  
"Give me something...intense," her head spun with possibility of something new, or rather, very old that hasn't been listened to by anyone for ages. That alone was enough to curl her toes, "and make it hard rock."

  
Music...it was stuffed up moments of tension like this that a song was as good a remedy as a cold class of liquor. Luna could feel her mouth water at the thought of a drink. 'Yeah...alcohol would be nice, but I'm on top of a roof near officers of the law, and second I don't feel like paying for enjoyment when I can get it from a different source for free. ' Luna's body cringed as her conscious brought up a small memory spurred by her thoughts, 'The record store, hell, even lady Vinyl herself make enough profits from normal people. A few loopholes doesn't hurt anybody and neither did the burning hardware.' Morals didn't fit in with this atmosphere.

  
"You got it!" The happy voice of the child chimed with glee, as Luna could imagine the little computer girl lived in her own little world.

  
A world nice little hovel that had walls, a bed in the middle, for when she was offline, surrounded by obscene walls. Decorated with groups of smiles, mostly on the younger faces of teenagers dressed before a scenic picture or a decorative swirl of color. Though they were numerous they were dulled by the parches of grey areas which the girl was interested in. Adults garbed in dark outfits, faces covered by masks that could very well be creatures of dark origin. At the touch of her digital fingers, the image would slide out listing names, track number and song length. With a touch, the selected set of characters would glow as the girl moved back to the center of the room, a little black disk popping out next to the centerpiece console. Laying the disk into the tray, the speakers, connect to the wires that strung to the outside of the room, came to life with a few scratches of the dial lightly rolling through the tiny valleys in the disk's vinyl surface.

  
Luna stood quietly listening to the light exchange of questions coming from around the corner. Thankfully it seemed that the guards had little luck getting- *B-oo-oo-oon-nn-nn-nn-nng*. Her heart leaped from her chest for a moment and even before it had a chance to get back into her body she was already moving. The ears atop Luna's head swiveled to and fro trying to adjust themselves to relieve themselves of bell's vibrations. The low strike shaking through the early hours of the morning.

  
It was the sight of the stretching reach of colors across the sky and the faint glimmering in the distance that touched the corners of her eyes that drew them straight over to the docking station of town. Somewhere so close she wanted to reach out and grab it, is where the lone ship docked their sat in relative silence, steam and exhaust no longer fuming out of its vents. 'It's taking off?' Luna never really paid much attention to aircraft take off procedures before and she regretted it immediately, the fact that she didn't know completely to be true, but her gut was tingling intensely at that moment. 'We were too late?'

  
Luna felt a tight grip forming in her chest in the from a death sentence at being locked away somewhere, or maybe even worse, being put back into that crowded building the city calls an orphanage. She was so looking forward to seeing the object of fascination that eluded her for so long. The thing they call snow. Only hearing tales, that it was a colder form of rain that melted on your skin as it whisked through the sky. The wind was what blew to keep it up in the air. It was almost like sand but didn't bite or was dry or didn't fall straight to the ground making everything soggy wet. Instead it lay atop everything like a blanket. Other parts of Remnant had snow, mostly during the cooler parts of the year where the air is only warm, but up north, she heard there was snowing almost all the time.

  
That's what she overheard the children at the orphanage say...it gave Luna very unusual imagery each time she gathered new details about it. The most recent idea, an magnificent one at that was what she believed gave her the first step towards leaving this place. Now ...all she could almost feel that dream fading away from her, being ripped out of her hands by men with guns. It was always the people with guns. The memories of before, drifted up from bellow as her amazing dream was carried away with the bell, and like most of everything else, faded away into silence.

  
Leaving nothing but the feeling of clenched teeth, and her soft short intakes of breath in its place.

  
*B-oo-oo-oon-nn-nn-nn-nng*

  
Her eyes flickered open as something occurred to her, that time the strike was different, or rather, it had felt different. As the high point of the strike past and the echo began to fade from her hearing, the little hairs on her neck were still resonating the vibrations. A clue... something she entirely overlooked...she didn't know of any bell towers in the city. They were an outdated concept, kept for decorative display in any case. Still her hands cupped the sides of her head as she racked her memory, trying to sort details, quickly writing off any classical style buildings were the product of fabrication. A product of rapid civil expansion, capitalized by the major's marketing toward tourism.

  
Pieces of the answer quickly began forming into place atop the rooftop, that was moments before, was but a haze of radio communications, now reduced to dull silence, *B-oo-oo-oon-nn-nn-nn-nng*. Then everything clicked into place in her head, and Luna leaned down to the speaker while a grin stretched across her face as she spoke up. "Louder," her voice was gruff and low that carried her simple request.

  
*B-OO-Oo-oon-nn-nn-nn-nng* The digital companion chuckled, as a heavy pair of footsteps came around the corner, the child's giggling voice echoing over them like a ghost from the depths of the ringing, "Right! Lets tare some shit up."

  
*Vr-ner-ver-nom. Vr-vvr-ver-voom. Vr-vvr-ver-om~ voo-ver-doo* *B-oo-oo-oon-nn-nn-nn-nng* Luna's eyes cracked open to give a grizzly eye to the lumbering tower of man wearing metal that came around the corner. His eyes, or what she could imagine them were locked on with her own as he regarded her, pistol drawn, and was raised as he seemed to evaluate her and the bulky appearance of the ragged bag. With a quick wisp of lip movement a little purple light lit up on his helmet while Luna gave a brief rundown of what she had to work with. It was around three three-seated sofa's in length both ways. The voice of that middle aged, infertile, wreck of a math teacher telling the class, "Its Length and _____. Not length one and length two, please use the correct words Luna," thoughts unwilling bringing up those parting words on that summer, "Everything I teach will be used out there in the real world Luna...Don't throw away your chance at a better life!"

  
Her head spun with mixed feelings of dread and angst as the man shuffled and was moving towards her, the box of light on his visor gone returning to it's emotionless grey scheme. It seemed break time was over then, her gut moving her body into taking a step back. Giving her the needed distance and time to clench her fists as her mind found resolve. "Well teach...Mrs Pell, I promise I won't waste my chance at a better life. It'll be as far away from you so I hope that satisfy you too."

  
He abruptly stopped outside a half dozen steps or so away from her as something from her bag must have caught his attention. A short glimpse to the side confirmed as such, the tie around the top had become loosed by the short journey and had slipped down enough revealing the corner-piece of glimmering liquid held inside one of her glass jars. The music had already dissipated its allotted share of negative feels to the situation so this sent a spike of 'stupid' in her head, disregarding the quirks of ones own belongings. That's another strike against any clinging hope of innocence she could hold onto.

  
It seemed this must have been confusing for the officer in some way. In the next moments rather than doing the logical choice, calling to his comrades in the city for backup, securing a underage suspect and noting and bagging possible contraband. That is standard procedure, except he was putting his pistol back onto his belt. Withdrawing a long instrument from the back that came into view with a flicker of electricity bursting at the end of its rod shape.

  
Shifting his feet out to a wider stance he moved his free right hand, 'Oh so hes left handed...,' she noted in interest in her head but missed the last of the man's movements as his right hand returned to his side. Looking on as if waiting for a response.

  
"What?" She said, drawing out the first letter for emphasis.

  
He frown at her, moving out with his right arm again with his baton still raised at her he moved it out and pointed at her with his hand, then moving back his fingers pointed at his head, before resting them self once more over the grip of the pistol.

  
'It seemed he...has a ear ache?' Her eyes furrowed as she continued to stare on.

  
As she stood there puzzled he frowned and repeated the action. This time adding in that he pointed at his side before moving his finger to point up at his head.

  
'Oh he wants me to turn down the music.' Luna's hand moved to her side next to the music device's front panel. Slipping her big finger in a slow journey across its luminescent screen. The dancing lights flicking on the ground were replaced with a gloomy blue light that bordered around the edges of the digit before disappearing entirely. The fresh appearance of cymbals beginning to beat fading, as the guitar's shifting repetition of the same series of cords drew down till the earthly sounds of the wind and nearby voices merged it all together.

  
When she was satisfied she turned back and chirped,"Better?" giving him a little smile.

  
That scowl of his, which was not doing him any favors, didn't so much as quiver in response. His feet moving across in a slow yet wide step closer he lowered his over sized sparkler down to a level with his waist, with his arm poised half bent.  


"Last...time..." the voice of an older guy who had one to many nights french kissing packs of cigarettes growled at her over all the sounds on the roof, "On your knees, hands on your head."  


"Ooh..." A little chuckle went off inside her, 'That does make a lot more sense all things considered.' "Well sorry officer, Doctor Mario orders, not supposed to put any extra stress on my body. Tries giving me pills to help but that doesn't stop all the foul air coming out from my mouth." She grinned as she drew a step right to give herself space. "Must be chronic or something."  


He didn't answer vocally. Instead flipping something on his dip stick which caused the electric portion to blaze twice as much in intense ferocity.  


Luna regarded it with sticking out her tongue and blew the air out of her lungs. Tasting the static taste copper of the air around her just for a moment. "Ahh fuck," Luna spat as she jerked to her left just as the man-child's wizard wand connected last piece of her that had yet to move away from the strike. The tingling sensation moved across every hair on her body in a crashing wave from the center of her tail as her hands made contact with the ground and she was blessed enough to be in control to redirect her momentum back up.  


"I'm a rolling thunder, a pouring rain"  


Shifting her mass as low as she easily could avoid the next strike from his shift in position with a big step. There is where she made her move from behind, ending his recovery with a flick of her legs connecting her kick towards the center of his forearm near his wrist as he twisted around to face her.  


The music hadn't lost a beat and neither did she, her blow sent the metal dong clattering down off the roof, safely out of reach. As she readjusted herself moving forward while the man groaned in agony as he adjusted. Holding the injury up against his chest as his other hand clench up and arched overhead and down.  


"I'm comin' on like a hurricane."  


Luna was already recovering at that point, body low, knees bent, and feet back on the floor as she primed herself, already closer then what was comfortable for her in front of the man when the fist came down from the heavens. It was only a split decision to let it impact, if only to allow for a better target. Her reflexes however didn't agree with any such compromise, her chest lurched backwards giving the man a bigger target. The impact, was painful, but pain was pain in any regard but it brought the fruits of such sacrifice.  


Using her strong legs to put opportunity into practice, she leaped up and with the last exchange giving her near complete cooperation from her opponent, the officer going rigid as he inadvertently offered a nice strip of unprotected facial skin for her knee to connect with.  


"My lightning's flashing across the sky."  


Despite the impact she had enough momentum to at least vault overhead. On the ground her chest ached as she felt and accessed the damage. It hurt but it was thankfully only moderate. Padding from her bra along with a insert or two made enough cushion to take away some of the force, but 'damn getting hit in the boobs hurts!'  


Her reckless move was met with a firm response. The hard reinforced steel imprinted its texture on her cheek from a harsh swing, the loss of balance made her body tumble to the ground.  


"You're only young but-"  


A fresh bloom of dull pain etched up her spine as she from her landing on something against her hip, the sudden cut of music gave her answer to what it was as Luna scrambled to get the soft metal casing out from being compressed against the concrete. From what she saw everything was still in one piece except the blue light that shined brightly from before was simply flickering. The display of the song title giving a simple message, 'Error: Unknown' *Bu-bump*.  


Using the hand she saved the most in the fight she pressed the little play icon on the side of the screen. Eyes widening as the sound of the music scratched and the voices of the singers cut together in terrifying sequences before it abruptly stopped. That was an static voice,  


"I'm sorry Luna but that music file as been corrupted." *Bu-bump*  


*Bu-bump* Luna's heart skipped as the authority figure's hand gripped on her shoulder, "Let's go you raging stallion," his comment was lost inside her head as a switch had flipped inside her mind. The wind followed the twisting motion of her strike to the man's fore arm, targeting the soft tissue area above the metal guard of his wrist. The man wasn't given the privilege to reply to her assault. Only giving a weak grunt as the next punch slammed into his chest below the ribs. The loss in ability to breath, talk, or scream didn't slow the soldier's retaliation. Already following through with a quick strike to her head knocking the girl to the right. The throbbing was not lessening from the blow yes, but with clenched teeth it soon led to him making his mistake, trying to follow through with quick rapid strikes, but Luna was trained against these moves. With every miss, a burst of energy was expended and the deprivation of oxygen, warping the calm pale skin to a sickly wet pink, evident to both parties to his folly.  


Within ten seconds his motions were so sluggish that his helmet fell off from one heavy miss sending him towards the edge as his legs struggled to hold up his top heavy armor. Falling to his knees short of falling off the roof, he balancing himself with one arm trying to support himself up, the look in the mans face showed his stress and panic of the situation. The time he wasted trying to turn around and make contact with the girl worked against him as Luna had already closed within leg distance between her self and her target. The man's eyes widened in fear for a split moment before as foot made contact, shattering the officer's windpipe, knocking him backwards, with a the last glimpse his pupils were constricted in horror as he surely realized he was no longer on the roof. Luna watched as the body gave a twist as it collided with the last lose-knit remains of scaffolding attached to the next building. The metal construct giving a sharp screech of pain on its final breath before shifting to a drawn out groan as it collapsed lifelessly onto the pavement below. Sending up a cloud of dust as the destruction echoing out through the city block.  


Then, the only sound that could be heard were her intakes of breath as her eyes stared down at the scene below. The intake of oxygen into her finally shifting to a more normal, slower and albeit shaken tone as the dust finally began to settle once more. Revealing the figure of a person trapped underneath, part of face hidden beneath the metal wreck along with most the body in the same situation. All of it was too quiet, the absence of coughing, showing signs of agony written the face when something like that happened. Instead the expression it wore was stagnant, with the exception of little lines of crimson flowing down from the top of the head.  


Luna waited patiently for something to change when a drop of liquid collided with her cheek causing her to flinch and as splashed across her skin as Luna mind reevaluated the sight of what was once a member of the Val-Larua's, if not shady, finest. It was the first drop of many, a second and third landed in the same proximity atop her brow, the small rivulet of water curving down her nose like a river. Flowing down until it reached the larger body of liquid drawn up from within her eye, the fresh mixture turning salty just as the sea, the shower coming inland from the ocean moved quick to mask the presence of pain numbing the girl's features.  


Faint flashes of light offered glimpses of what was far in the distance. Yet these were no anomalies, in the next moments faint low rumbles brushed the hairs inside her ear, distant thunder, an approaching storm moving in from the sea. A second flash shot down to touch the water of the ocean before arching back up to the sky, a rare spectacle considering it had lived longer then a split second, the only difference was that the sound heard was not of a roar, nor a crackle, but a clack of metal , one that has been drawn back, and struck the metal end of a receiver on a gun.The noise repeated once...at number two her brain had already judged from the slide, or lack thereof, a click and a clack of metal pieces that these were not the standard pistol drawn to give an officer some leverage with a suspect. A gripping sensation in the pit of her stomach, which some would call her gut, finally brought enough motivation to turn around. Straight into the leering sight of a rifle.  


(Nope-no wait...*tap tap tap* sorry, 'THREE rifles'...man editors demanding me to use finer detail can just go wank themselves.)  


Her mind already determined that her odds were not very good. There were two on the right and on the left, each armed with a rifle brandishing a caliber that could intimidate a nevermore, or a angry mob of people.  


"Corporal," A low emotionless voice came from the soldier closest on the right spoke.  


"Yes sir?" A more youthful sounding man answered on the left, keeping his sights remaining trained on the smaller girl.  


The senior official of the soldiers waited a moment before tilting her head towards the edge of the roof, "Go check on Volare."  


Without pause or salute the man turned and headed back around the side of the building. Tense moments of silence where the two remaining soldiers kept their rifles fixed before the sound of heavy boots moving in the street bellow echoed up from above before moving in to stop at what must have been the metal wreckage.  


Moments past like lifespans as the stagnant atmosphere as rain began to fall in earnest from above.  


"Captain Volare is dead," the information sent another weight crashing down inside Luna chest as the mans voice called up from bellow.  


Surprising that the mouth of the officer did not remain emotionless as Luna had expected from past events with soldiers, neither turning to a grimace full of teeth, or an open show of horror. Lips parting, curling upwards, barely showing a hint of teeth before the they parted to give off a slight chuckle, but her voice had changed from hard and serious to more relaxed. Yet nobody under a magnifying glass would see it as calming. Short glimpses of a glacier of cold dripping joy were given after each soft chuckle, and even from where Luna was standing that cold was seeping into her skin.  


"Finally, an improvement in this shit hole," with a nod directed to her right, the man kept his weapon poised as the woman lowered hers. Shifting to a more relaxed pose, "Hermes," a the word a violet square light lit up from within the woman's visor. The helmet giving a soft chime, "Open communication, three five charlie one." With a parting smirk the woman face was obstructed by the helmet as she turned away and began taking a slow pace along the edge of the building.  


"Active Charlie company units be advised... 'Cease and disarm protocol' is no longer in valid. All contacts within the market district fall to previous operating procedures," after reaching the opposing edge the soldier turned back around and was taking a slow stroll back, "Hostiles should be dealt at your discretion."  


The order was given clear and concise as from the mouth of a politician, but the response wasn't met with applause. Mummers of gloomy answers, some ask for more details, were but seasoning atop the loud sounds of confirmation. One static filled voice was practically giving a sermon's worth of praise at the decision. Some stayed on for a while, yet those had tangs of bickering. Of the two exchanges that went on for a while neither remained for more then ten seconds. Everything had fallen to silence by the time the footsteps of the officer stopped beside their original position next to the other soldier. "End broadcast," the command was heard and again the little chime chirped before the light on the helmet faded out once more.  


The wide grin of the woman's mouth had started to wavered during the moments that followed as everything moved along in silence. Shifting loosely between a straight frown, and the grin from before as her head swiveled around in a circle. Then-"Thank you."  


'Yeah sure-no huh-what now?' Luna's eyes blinked once, then twice, trying to focus on the distinct movements of woman's lips when she spoke, if only to confirm what her ears just heard. 'Did she just say thank you?'  


"Well to ease your final thoughts, this will make dealing with most criminals better for everyone for now on," she spoke before finishing with a smile.  


'Final thoughts?'  


The officer watched as Luna felt her stomach drop at the words, and whatever effect it had sending her whole body into a rumble. This seemed to be the desired effect that the woman was after as she smiled,"...this has taken much longer then was necessary."  


The feeling of dread was still rising in her gut by the change in the situation when woman's smiling gaze shifted over to her comrade who has stood still the entire time. Her voice morphed into what Luna would consider a 'motherly' tone, "Private...it seemed that this poor animal injured itself at the hands of the captain, and has become 'lame'."  


"It's worthy of rewarding those who aid the suffering," Luna felt chills after the last word was spoken as her eyes shifted back to the man.  


The bearded chin of the soldier shifted to look at the officer as he gave a nod, Luna's vision grew blurry as she fought with her self, her mind demanding that she remained focus on what was to come. The man shifting his gun up to his shoulder, and Luna could see a person's eye behind the visor for a fleeting moment as the light display of little circles of light flipped up on his visor and along his rifle.  
*Bang* this time the flash and the roar were simultaneous as shriek of pain passed through her lips...  
\-------------------------------------------End Scene 4 Part 1-------------------------------------------------


End file.
